BOOK REVIEWS especially strengt,h properties, are included. Other sections on nickel will appear in 1966 and 1967. J. V. D.
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Encvclo~ediaof Chemical Technoloav. ~ol;ma 6, Complexing Agents to Dextrose and Starch Syrups
Anthay Standen, executive editor. Interscience Publishers (a division of John Wiley and Sans, Inc.), New York, 1965. 932pp. Figs. and tables. 19 X 27 cm. $35 (subscription); $45 (single COPY). This is the sixth volume of the second edition of this well-known and widelyused encyclopedia. As in the previous volumes of this new edition, the term chemical technology is used in an allembracing sense and articles written by experts on topics such as Crystals and Coordination Compounds, which lean strongly toward the pure scientific aspect, are commingled with topics such as Conveying which are the classical types of subjects one expects to find in a technological encyclopedia. The articles maintain the high technical competence of those found in the previous volumes and the user who is interested in a review of a subject as well as the reader who wants to delve into more detail are well served. The latter will find the bibliog-
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two states of helium were indeed introduced. The book moves to an interesting elementary discussion of bonding, and relative electronegativity, followed by the definition of atomio size as the distance between planes of atoms in the element. This section terminates with the following quotation: "Since the distance between these two planes equals twice the atomic radius, the atomic radius can be calculated directly from this X-ray measurement. To a reasonable approximation, the radius of the various elemental ions is the same regardless of the solid in which it is found." Thus the idea of internuclear distance in elements is adequately developed, but ions are then discussed, and it is the ionic sizes which are used in later developments in HUGOSTEINFINK the book. I t is most doubtful if the The University of Texas student will have any valid concept of how Austin these ionic sizes are determined. Individually, these intellectual leaps may not be serious, or even rtnnoying. Collectively, they seem to me to make it most Ceramics, Plastics, and Metals difficult for one to decide the level of reader Richard I?. Kvock, P . R. Mallory and for which the book is intended. Co., and Merrill L. Ebner, MassaI personally found the book interesting, chusettsIustitute of Technology. D. C. and picked up a good many ideas which had not previously occurred to me. I Heath and Co., Boston, 1965. vii 110 pp. Figs. and tables. 14 x 20 think any other reader would profit cm. $1.32 (single copy) similarly. My guess is, however, that the degree of profit will be rather directly This is a "two stools" book. I t related to the background in the subject, begins with a most interesting discussion a t least up through that background that of the history of development of structural is required to teach a course in physical materials, goes on to an elementary dischemistry. cussion of atomic energy levels, and then One-hundred pages are a very small leaps to a discussion of para and mlho space in whioh to discuss the subject helium. It was not clear to me, from the later development in the book, why the (Continued on page A87?2)
raphy a t the end of each topic a valuable introduction to the literature up to 1964. The volume is remarkably free of errors, although the reviewer noticed misspellings in several captions of figures. The excellence of presentation found in this volume as well as in the volumes published to date augurs well for the others which will complete this second edition. It insures their wide-spread acceptance as a standard reference work in libraries of universities and industrial laboratories. I t has taken six volumes to reach "Dextrose" and purchasers thus can look forward to filling many shelves till the last letter of the alphabet is reached.
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BOOK REVIEWS identified by the title of this book. Every potential author would choose different topics. I was, however, disappointed a t the fact that a person having read this book, would still have considerable difficulty understanding the properties of ceramics, plastics, or met& unless he had considerable hackground, not only in the elementary chemistry, but also in the nature of these msterials a t a level camparable to that which is interspersed throughout the book. Like most authors, so here, the t e m p tation t o expand led to strange combinations. For example, the section on maragiug steels is followed by one on lasers. It is a little difficult to understand the inclusion of the latter topic, since this is normally not thought of as coming within the purview of the title of the monograph. I could recommend reading this book to a college teacher who wished ta fill out some of his ideas, and see some clever interpretations and expositions of ideas in this field. He will have a pleasant two hours. I find it difficult t o recognize a student audience that would find the book similarly pprofitable. The level of education of most students seems to fall between the "two stools" on which the majority of the materid in this book rests.
Leo Hendrik Baekeland
3. Gillis, University of Ghent. Paleis der Academien, Brussels, 1965. 139 pp. Photographs. 18 X 26 cm. Paperbound. 525 fr.
THISJOURNAL (41, 224 119641) carried a paper dealing with the life and career of Baekeland (1863-1944) by J. B. Gillis, who is professor emeritus of chemistry in the University of Ghent, Brtekeland's alma mater. Accordingly there is no need to repeat here the biographical details of this outstanding BelgianAmerican chemist, inventor and industrialist. Suffice it to say that Gillis is obviously in a most favorable position t o examine the documents, letters etc. that pertain t o Baekeland. The text is in Flemish but the author has thoughtfully provided French and English summarie~. An adequate biography (12 pages) is given and i t is followed by sections bringing together documents dealing with his parents, his student days, his early teaching experiences, his first experiments on photographic plates, his marriage t o the daughter of Theodore Swarts (who had directed his doctorate thesis), his journey to the U.S.A., his first ye& in New York, the invention of Velox paper (later sold to Esstmm for%million dollars), the invention of Bakelite (later absorbed into the Union Carbide and Carbon Company). The letters are especially interesting and give good insights into his J. A. CAMPBELL family life; many are in English, some in French. The information furnished t o Hamey Mudd College "Who's Who" gives a. succinct picture of Cla~emont,California
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his honors, memberships and achievements in the scientific. industrial and pditivxl fields. A rowplpt~bihliopwphg of his publixI.~dpapers is another wlunblr fwturr, HISO 3 1C.t of the publishrd hiographies authored by eminent chemists and industrialists. The crowning feature of this hook are the 76 photographs, many hitherto unpublished; they done make this volume a. valuable addition to the literature d d i n g wirh out.t:tt.diug r l w m i t . He alurals alwnl: a i r h Stni ; t t d :idvuy as grears pnducrrl I,? BJgiunt irl the chemical field. RALPHE. OESPER Uniwrsity of Cincinnati Cincinnati. Ohio Introduction to Stereochemistry
K u ~ t Mislmo, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey. Organic Chemi s tM ~ a n o m a ~ hSeries. W. A. Beni& f93 mi;, Inc., g e w York, 1965. xii pp. Figs. and tables. 15 X 22 cm. Clothbound, $8.95; paperbound, $3.95.
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Professor Mislow's contribution provides, with the qualifications mentioned below, a text which will give the motivated student a n elementary hut sound fund* mental background for moving beyond the normal undergraduate presentation of stereoisomerism. Included among the topics not normally met in such presentations are symmetry and point groups; modern configurational nomenclature; ra(Continued on page Ad74)
